Gerard woke rather early that morning. After all, he needed to call someone for a ride. His equipment made it nigh impossible for him to move around the city normally. The antiquated lustre of his room became illuminated with the light of his phone. The phone itself was a relic of the past; rather than some ultra-thin, million pixel laser light display, it was a simple brick with a thick screen. It was a miracle the phone still worked.

He reluctantly called Cash. Not out of disdain of the man, of course. Rather, it was simply because Gerard didn't want to inconvenience him. After a short conversation, Gerard had procured his ride to Cash's estate.

With a few hours to spare before dawn broke, Gerard left to gather his bearings. He didn't need his cane today. It would be much too busy for that, after all.

He quietly left the cafe and began to prepare for the day ahead. He ate, cleaned up himself, and did whatever other morning routine one could do in that time. Once everything was finished, he left to collect his equipment.

His journey left him in a rather bad spot of town. Formerly an industrial block, the buildings were rather quick to be abandoned, turning it into a ghost town. Rust reclaimed any sort of metal. Any valuable baubles or riches had been taken years ago. It was the perfect spot to hide something.

Gerard had entered a half-destroyed building. The concrete was barely holding the thick metal roofing. It was a certifiable deathtrap, one that only a fool would walk into. He crept along, passing the remnants of the machinery that had been vandalized beyond the point of no repair. He paid it no heed. He only used this building to hold one thing.

A large gate of steel greeted him. Held down by thick weights and enough locks to open a lock store, it was impossible for anyone else to open it. Unless of course, they had some rich man's tool or ability to cut through the ancient metals to get inside. One by one, Gerard opened the locks, each one falling to the ground. He placed his hands at the bottom of the gate, lifting it up as it folded into the roof of the room. With dust settling, Gerard saw his old equipment - his past that he would never be able to part with.

He put on his equipment, the weight of each plate bearing down on him. It was rather hard to move in, indeed. He threw a large draping of rags on the suit, concealing its large appearance. It made it much easier to move in public while wearing it. Nobody questioned giant and possibly obese men wearing rags in this day and age. He left the facility, pulling down the gate to conceal his hiding place.

A van was already there to pick him up. He graciously entered, his body almost completely filling the inside. The van left on its long journey, leaving nothing but dust.

Entering Cash's property was always the experience. A perk of the filthy rich, no doubt. They pulled up to the lot and Gerard left the van. He stood behind the crowd watching Cash's demonstration. First it was the box and the plastic sheet. Next, it was the chicken. He watched intently as Cash placed the chicken inside of the box and taped it closed. As Cash finished writing the symbol, the chicken exploded, leaving an (albeit contained) bloody mess. Gerard didn't jump when it exploded. Rather, he was more concerned about the implication. Runes that anyone could draw to make that happen? They didn't have any clues to who was using this strange power. Gerard hated dealing with the more intangible nightmares. He was rather stuck in the physical realm, after all.

Jiangli woke up bright and early, quickly going through his morning routine before heading out to a nearby diner for breakfast and coffee. His armor and weapons were compactly packed into a large briefcase that he carried along. As he ate, he debated his options for arriving at Cash's home. He could call in a favor from Cash, but he suspected that several other Cleaners would be as well, and it wouldn't do to presume Cash's favor too much, despite the fact they were working a job for him. Unlike Warthog, his own armor set was compact enough to transport in a case instead of having to be worn. Public transport was an option, but that was too much time spent out in the public eye for his liking. No, better to hail a cab.

After leaving a preloaded credstick on the counter for his meal, Jiangli took a disposable phone out of his pocket and booted up a taxi app to call for one. The ride over was uneventful, and Jiangli soon found himself gazing upon the Envi-Novel complex. The community was impressive, but Jiangli had visited such locales before during his time as an Agent.

The briefing itself left Jiangli rather alarmed. This was...almost certainly more of the Prohibitum's territory, and his instincts as an Agent urged him to inform Cash to contact the Prohibitum. But that wouldn't go over well with certain Cleaners in the squad, and so he held his tongue about the suggestion. Although Prohibitum influence was certainly something to watch out for.

"This is certainly more of the Prohibitum's territory. Do they know about this? I'd rather not have to risk potential Agent interference when we're going after the Nightmare."

Earlier

Ian had woken up maybe a bit earlier than usual which was much earlier than most tended to wake. Even as a cleaner he still found other ways to keep busy, ways that were within his old line of work. This time though he was more subdued with his dealings, doing smaller and safer jobs that would escape the notice of law enforcement. Mostly.

Now he was eating his breakfast, or perhaps it was lunch. It wasn't much, just coffee and toast with marmalade. Ian never ate heavy before he expected action, though it was refreshing to know for sure that there was going to be action. Too many times in the past he had gone entire days with that uncertainty as to whether or not there was going to be a fight.

after draining the last of his coffee and putting his mug and plate on the counter he grabbed his helmet from the seat he had been sitting adjacent too and walked outside.

It was time to go to work.



Blitz had come down from the sky like a thunderbolt, not as fast as he might have like but enough for a small sonic boom to announce his arrival. If only he hadn't been among the first to arrive. The flight was taken slow but was much faster than moving over the ground. It wouldn't have been good to shatter windows on his commute.

The display with the box was slightly unnerving but he took it in stride, as usual.

"Good call with the plastic. A friend of mine had a guy murdered on his couch once, had to throw it out... he's dead now too."

Blitz paused for a second to think things over. It didn't exactly seem like the way a nightmare might operate, more the work of some sick and twisted mage.

"So how do you know that it's a Nightmare then? Any witnesses?"

The macabre art display burned quietly in the crisp air, eventually bringing with it the smell of ash and boiling blood. Cash sniffled once, clearly detecting it, but made no change in his expression as he looked over the group.

"That's what I'd initially considered as well, Runner, but I'd had a hunch it wasn't so simple. When my informants had given me the whole kit and caboodle of what happened at the Himura place, it didn't add up." Cash looked over to Diva and nodded before rolling up his sleeves, as if preparing for contemplation.

"Of course, it seems like a rune. Drawn symbol, instant effect. But what it truly does is far too complex to be any rune someone can just throw around. After all just look at it," he said, pulling out a personal device to display before the gathered Cleaners. Indeed, the rune was far too simple to be something 'complex', if they were to take Cash's word for it. A few circles, a line here and there... Compared to most runes which took hours to complete, this one had apparently been crafted by glancing at a reference over a few seconds.

Stuffing the phone back inside his coat, he continued. "It might look like a rune from our perspective here, but inside the box is where the action's at. While 20 died at the Himura place, two survived. Nothing notable about them. No reason to suspect they were 'exempt' from the targeted attack. The only thing different about them..." he trailed off, lifting two fingers and wiggling them, "Was that they were the only people in the same room when it happened. Everyone else was alone when they died."

Cash turned around to face the still-burning remains of the poor chicken. "Tested this with two chickens in a box and they died all the same, so I was confused once more. Then I tried putting them in a box with some light, and what do you know, they survived! So my conclusion changed, but only more mysteries cropped up... Because the chickens both died within a few seconds anyways. But! But, they did survive longer," he mused. Gesturing all the while, he continued.

"So what we know is, if you're together with someone else, in the light, you can survive for a short period of time. But then why only a short time? My hypothesis?" Cash pointed to his eyes, "Blinking. I say, what kept them alive was that they could see one another. The moment you're not visible to someone else, you're dead. You might ask, 'Why would a spell have a loophole like that if it's meant to kill?' Well that's where the nightmare theory comes in." Cash pulled out a notebook and threw towards the group's general direction. Inside were notes accumulated from multiple sources.

"Turns out I was right. This symbol's been around for a long while, but it got lost in the underground for some time, surfacing again now. The symbol isn't so much as a rune as it is a unique calling card. A summoning spell, if you will, but without the magic we're familiar with. Indeed, even Sanction couldn't recognize any underlying functions hidden in it. It's not a reality-intrinsic rune, thank god, but it seems to have a latent nature to it... Which is why I'm convinced the symbol is a nightmare itself." He gestured with a thumb to the plastic mat, as the final embers dwindled away.

"Whatever it is, it's something that appears only inside closed spaces with that symbol printed upon it. Indeed, the Himura house is completely barred off and fatal to anyone entering. The Agency is trying to deal with it as we speak."

Be it a run-down place like this or a fancy-schmancy apartment somewhere in the better districts of Neo Babylon: for Vivian, it was all the same. She was, after all, just a 17 year old not girly-girl with her very own charms. It came to no surprise that the room she was now in wasn't exactly...inviting. If not for Mom checking on her regularly the place wouldn't probably have been any different from a dumpster. So, in the end, what good would more square meter living area do for her? Nothing. Thus, Vivi had her very own reasons for not moving from this sanctuary. Not to mention the free food she was capable of grabbing nearly every morning. Sure, it wasn't junk food but at least she didn't need to waste time going out of her way to buy anything in the first place.

...

In the end - with Warthog nowhere to be seen - Vivian had to rely on one of Bablyon's fancy taxis. It was here that it became apparent that Vivi's morals were a bit...skewed. She didn't want to hack inside a game to make it herself easier; but abusing the fact that the even more expensive yellow ride was managed completely digital, making it a ease for her to not have to pay anything, seemed to be a completely fine act.

Ignoring most of the surroundings, Vivi was busy just playing more video games as sooner or later her drive finally arrived at their destination. Well, not exactly in front of it as just in the most rare of cases the purple-hair didn't want to get the capitalist into any trouble, but close enough.

It had always been Gramps to deal with this place and it was truly Vivian's first time here, however, Vivian could not deny her surprise. Even from outside where she was. The hacker had stalked enough fat rich people that she thought a place like this wouldn't manage to make ger gasp in awe. Boy was she proven wrong.

It was not until after Cash's explanation and the chicken-show that Vivian just shook her head. While not disgusted at the scenery, she just couldn't comprehend why the man had to use a chicken instead of just explaining. Then, the explanation itself, while it could have very well been a Nightmare it also sounded right like out of a indie horror game. Heck, Vivian even put a small smile on her face upon that thought!

Regardless, Vivian actually had a legit question. "Did you try experimenting with a camera?"

The conversation with Hex petered out and the woman was never seen again.

---

Sabrina always appreciated the baked goods Melanie made, if it weren't for the fact that having vents and a body capable of surviving intense heat was considered not appropriate to polite society she would havefully modded herself like biter ages ago. Alas, for the moment she was had to deal with her complaining stomach in the morning, she was going to need the energy for the trip across town, so she took a fair few of the baked goods and, with an appreciative if rushed thanks to Melanie, headed out into the early morning commotion of Neo Babylon. She left well before pretty much everyone else, she was going to have to have a head start if she was going to make it to the meeting location on time.

Down in the depths of Neo Babylon’s complex sewer system Advents creatures traveled swiftly, flanked by 4 Seekers: floating biomechanical constructs that used to be cuttlefish. These hovering creatures were equipped with a chameleon system she had copied from one of the other research groups at Courtlandt Holdings, her power allowing replication of basically any mechanical or biological system had allowed her to copy a prototype over the course of a few weeks. Such tech had played a vital role in not being caught in her various activities but unfortunatly wasn’t good enough that her creatures could simply stroll around in broad daylight using it. In the dimly lit sewers however, the parasitically invisible seekers made sure that the rest of the group did not run into any maintenance crews or drones as they followed Advent below street level, ready to pop out to assist at a moment's notice.

---

About an hour and a half later a slightly out of breath Sabrina arrived at the gates of the Eni-Novel foundation on a homemade bicycle with sever large medical cases strapped to the back. She had managed, through grit, determination and subtle modifications to improve all her muscles, to navigate all the way through the nightmarish rush hour traffic unscathed and almost on time. When she arrived she was just in time to see the magic from a distance as she approached the driveway and joined the group just in time to here the explanation. Managing barely to stave off her feeling of dread and horror at what hunting nightmares actually entailed as the explanation went on. She was broken out of her oncoming panic by the calm question from Zero.

"Did you try experimenting with a camera?"

Sabrina took a deep breath, collected her thoughts and focused on keeping themselves alive through all this.

“That would be useful, either we get to see what we are up against if it doesn't recognize the camera as a target/observer or we get another way of keeping ourselves safe. Maybe get a bunch of drones and feed their visual data back to some observers to keep the Nightmare at bay.”

She pondered for a few moments on how to actually deal with the Nightmare.

“How widespread do you think knowledge of the symbol is now? Are we going to see a pandemic of people using it or would we partially solve this problem if we could find the person who used it on Himura house? If the only way to stop all this is to kill the nightmare then baring giving the chickens some kind of deadman's switch I am currently at a loss on how to do so.”

Late nights were common in her line of work, and though there was that age-old adage of the ‘early bird catching the worm’, Josephine often slept in, only waking around noontime to cook herself lunch. That particular morning, however, she made an exception, rising up alongside the muted sun. Outside of a well-stocked refrigerator, her apartment suite, located in a high-rise on the classier side of town, was devoid of decoration at all. Her Heinbox provided whatever electronic entertainment she ever wanted, and her armoury was hidden, leaving a living space that looked much too empty even when it was just meant for a single person.

Josephine didn’t mind though. She enjoyed the empty, open space, ensuring that every spot on synthetic wood floor was flawless.

She stretched out as she faced the sparse rays of the rising sun, pale skin only paler against its gray light. After a cold shower with her Punisher EMT and a warm breakfast of chicken and eggs, the urchin-turned-assassin-turned-Cleaner stepped up to her wardrobe and removed her bathrobe. She stood naked before the mirror, before saying flatly, “Set 2.”

The Valkyrie suit came first, slim plates of metal attaching to a skin-tight bodysuit that she stepped into. Next was a silk blouse and dark trousers, mechanical arms retrieving them and hanging them out for her to wear. Finally, a suit jacket was pulled and buttoned on, followed by a violin case, carrying her Railrifle.

She looked at herself once more in the mirror, red-ringed eyes burrowing into the reflected image, before Josephine set off, sticking her feet into steel-toed combat boots.

---

After a couple of detours to pick up other Cleaners in the area, Josephine spent most of her time ignoring Diva’s small talk as she cruised along in her armored truck, also of Heavyware make. Rolling up to Cash’s residence after a quick confirmation from the robotic guard, Josephine stepped out of her truck. A nod was given towards Runner and Warthog, before she turned her attention to the ridiculous luxuries that surrounded them all.

From clean air to simulated sunshine to large estates to what looked to be a real, live chicken, it never failed to make Josephine slightly envious, even if she was also well-off. She viewed the demonstration with some interest, especially at the bloody explosion that had occurred within the cardboard box, before making a disgruntled noise at Cash’s further elaboration.

A calling card?

Sounded like this nightmare was the assassinating type, just like herself. With a symbol like that spreading around, and the potency for mass murder (and how it killed free of charge) demonstrated against the mooks in the Himura family, the raven-haired woman was certainly displeased with this. Competition always irritated her.

A being that only existed in darkness and attacked when others were blind. Fast enough that even a blink was enough of an opening to completely tear apart. She left the camera-talk for Cash to explain once more, before saying, flatly, “One of us has an unkillable mutt. Why not toss that in a dark room with that nightmare and seeing if we can get extended shots of it? And have you confirmed whether or not it can show up at multiple places at once?”

Knowing that newbie, Hex was probably late or lost or something. Should show up sooner or later.

Rui-Hai rose early. It was not a common tendency for her; when she had constant stream of work, she slept late and woke late, at times nearing ten to eleven in the morning. But more recently, with the frequency of smaller jobs on the low, she had been able to afford an actual regular sleep cycle. Despite the gradually rising sun, as the blue-haired girl stretched her hands out into the air with a yawn, the flat that she called an apartment was pitch black. The blackout shades she kept around the windows of her home kept light and prying eyes out, just the way she wanted it to be. Despite living on the lower levels of a building in a bad neighborhood, her actual flat was not in a bad way. Clean, serviceable, and tolerable overall, Rui-Hai had little reason to seek better living space.

Finally snapping awake, she began her day with a warm shower and a quick breakfast of fried noodles and leftover fish. As per usual, she only spent a brief moment ‘kitting up,’ drawing from a selection of crisp shirts and the phone. As a token movement, she pulled a handgun from the air, fitting it snugly in the inner pocket of her jacket. Stepping out the door and down the complex’s rancid elevator, she was out on the street just in time for her ride in the form of End’s armored vehicle, where several other Cleaners already sat. Giving token greetings, she spent her ride buried in her personal device.

-

The transition of scenery was something that she experienced often. Having worked with Courtlandt Holdings, she’d traveled more than once to the posher districts to negotiate her business. Today wouldn’t be anything different.

In the end, even Rui-Hai was left perplexed with the presentation and explanation Cash offered, but she wasn't perturbed. She nodded silently at Vivian’s question; it was entirely valid. In fact, it was such an obvious route to choose that she wondered if Cash tried it and had negative results. Then, a question came into her head. She grimaced, making distasteful face knowing that Sabrina would likely follow up, but so be it.

“Can we confirm what it kills, exactly? Humans and chickens so far. What about pests? Bacteria? Any little thing with eyes? Hell, what about an open door scenario?”

Cash just shook his head at Vivian.

"Yep. Once I had tried it with two chickens with some light in a small wooden crate, I'd put a camera inside. Didn't change anything. It did give me a glimpse of the nightmare though... Sort of," he shrugged. "It manifests instantaneously as a few gusts of air, so I imagine we're dealing an intangible type of nightmare, hence why I asked for Diva to come along," he explained, gesturing to the girl.

"As for its usage, I've only gotten word of this one incident occurring, so I think we're dealing with a single knowledgeable individual using it. Given the targets, it's likely they're another mob against the Himura, or a hitman for the same reason. Could be any number of folks. Pendeltons, Rash, Wireforts, Towers..." he Cash counted on his fingers, "Those are the groups I know that have something against the Himuras. The problem with killing it is that whatever you kill in an area afflicted by the mark isn't truly the nightmare itself. Merely a manifestation of it. The research for this particular idea is shoddy, but there's reason to suspect that it has a 'true home' from where it can extend its manifestations through the symbols. And yes. It can show up in multiple places at once. That much is known from the research on when it was used last... Some twenty-odds years or so ago." Cash straightened himself and turned to Arsenal.

"We've been cautious about our little 'tests' with the symbol. Haven't tried it on any actual buildings, so I can't say if an open door affects it or not. I imagine the Himura house had open windows at least somewhere when it happened, and the nightmare remained inside, so I'm lead to believe it stays in the 'house' as a concept. And we only know it just kills macroscopic living things. There was a robot servant in the house and it wasn't touched." Cash sighed, letting his hands fall noisily at his sides.

"Now then, with all those details explained, I've got a suggestion for a lead. Given it probably can't be killed at the house and that we have no clue where its origins might be, our best bet is to get info straight from the source. Whoever used the symbol will have a better idea on where it popped up from twenty years later, and that is where we should be able to get the right answers. I'd suggest speaking with the Wireforts first. Policus news seems to believe they're the ones in deepest shit with the Himuras right now. Just let them know you're not after any of them, just how they this symbol... If it indeed was one of them."

With that, Cash urged the group on their way, giving short answers to the lingering questions the group had. Ultimately the plan was simple, though it still meant having several things in the way till they actually got to some nightmare skull-bashing. Indeed, if anyone had even considered what it'd be like to fight the nightmare in a common house, few could be convinced it'd work out. The moment anyone was unseen, they would presumably be dead. Given its strange nature, no one was willing to test if it could bypass arcane shields. Diva could root the thing to physicality, but even that could be a waste of time, according to Cash's provided info.

And so it was that their first stop was the Wirefort manor, an old-timey chic manor in the middle layers of Neo Babylon, nevertheless with a wide land surrounding its walls. After gathering once again in the available vehicles, they were on their way out of the Envi-Novel district and back into the grimy under city where natural light reached them only in the few hours of high noon. The Wirefort manor was well underneath several megafoundations, leaving only the orange light of old streelamps to illuminate their path. Several buildings surrounded the plentiful lot of the manor, undoubtedly bought out and fortified for added protection and buffering. Well before they reached the street it was on, their appearance had already drawn the attention of residents and placed watchmen alike. There was no fuss. Not until they stopped nearby the manor.

Several men had stepped out in front of the cars on the street to stop them, clearly wary of their presence so close to the mob family manor. Gesturing for at least a few of them to step out, they approached at a distance, handguns and SMG's brought out from thick overcoats to make sure everyone understood what was at stake.

"The hell are you freaks doing around here? What's your business? Painstakers?"

He left the rooftop manor for one in a very different locale. This revelation that the nightmare was being weaponized was quite troubling. He'd been known for selling things for most of the gangs, the Himuras included. It only made sense for him to make his way there with some haste.

Blitz came down in a much more restrained manner than he had for the initial meeting, hands raised up as he stepped lightly down onto the street in front of the guards. He could have planted himself right in front of the front door if it wasn't likely that they'd have mined it with several dozen pounds of military grade explosives. Unwelcome guests would be dealt with harshly and Blitz wanted very badly to not be included in that group.

"Hey, it's me. Blitz. I know it's been a while."

He opened his visor and looked at the brandished weapons. Large goons in foreboding overcoats were nice and all, but pistols and submachine guns weren't really all that intimidating.

"Really guys, who sold you that stuff? Get some full caliber assault rifles here, big coats like that should hide them well enough. I think I have a grenade launcher too."

His voice turned hard and businesslike in an instant.

"I'm not here for that though. Any chance I can speak to the boss?"

Diva nodded at the various questions and answers. This was one hell of a spook, whatever it was. Invisible, fast, kills anyone when nobody's looking, and so-on. She beamed proudly at the mention by name. "I can force it to manifest, if there's even anything there to get." If it wasn't the Nightmare proper out and about, it wouldn't likely do anything. "Sounds like we also want to be sure we keep a buddy at all times for this one."

She looked around at the others. "Hopefully we won't have to fight this thing, but just in case, I'll do what I can. I might need someone to keep an eye on me, though." Not that she wouldn't be doing the same for them.

At the urging to get a move-on, she filed back to End's van with the others. As before, she was more than willing to try and strike up a conversation, once safely inside. "So, I don't think I'll be that good for talking our way past any mobster types," she said, simply. It wasn't the area of expertise one would expect for a teenager, anyway. She had enough trouble negotiating the ins and outs of her school; the shady underbelly of a city like Neo Babylon was far beyond her.

"Since this thing manifests as wind or something, should we codename it something like 'Kamaitachi'," she asked at some point, suggesting a nickname for their monster. It would probably be easier to discuss if they had something to use for reference. She didn't really have many other productive things to say on the rest of the trip down into the undercity. And when it came to actually talking their way past the security, she remained silent. Not her area of expertise.

A hitman using that symbol for their own needs? Yeah, this was definitely a case that Josephine was going to have to get into now. No way she was allowing some new face with a fancy weapon cut into her own profits just like that. That being said, Cash’s statements did make her wonder. If there was such a powerful ‘spell’ around, how on earth did it get lost the first place? Maybe a more powerful mage could automatically defend against this ethereal nightmare’s attacks, but one could practically eviscerate any enemy as long as they had an idea of where they were. It’d be like just accidentally forgetting that you had a tactical nuke launcher.

She furrowed her brows, but speculation wasn’t going to get anywhere. They were going to head over to the Wirefort’s lair first, after all, knock on the doors of all the rival mobs that had it out for the Himuras. Getting into her armored van once more, taking the time to take the Railrifle out of her violin case and making sure she had a full mag, Josephine drove off the moment she heard the passengers in her van put on their seatbelts. If they had to ram through a car or two to get there, it’d be a pain if Diva cracked open her skull, after all.

“Kamaitachi?” she repeated as she navigated through the messy network of mid-level streets, “Four syllables is too much. Let’s go with ‘Reaper’.”

Reaper sounded cooler than some gibberish language, after all.

Rolling to a stop as a group of armed thugs showed up, with their assortment of SMGs and handguns, her red-ringed eyes flickered over to their weapons for a couple of moments, before smiling. They were using Courtlandt Ophelia 3-17s? She used to love that, if only because those weapons became dirt cheap once Courtlandt gave up on trying to get into the weapon’s market and just went full liquidation mode. She motioned for Honoka to stay in the car, before walking out. To no one’s surprise, Blitz had gotten there first, and was already trying to peddle some heavier arms.

Josephine sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Typical Blitz, having no idea at all about cost-efficiency. SMGs and handguns, even shitty ones made by Courtlandt Holdings, were already enough to kill men who only really had access to strength-boosting Underarmor. And if handguns and high-calibre assault rifles could both provide the same thing, why on earth would they switch it up? So some greedy death-merchant could make more money?

“Better off peddling power armor to their rivals first, if you want to convince them to up their offensive options,” Josephine muttered under her breath, before approaching, standing a step or so behind and beside the flight-armored fellow.

If this was going to turn into a gun fight, she’d like to have a shield in place, even if only for a couple of seconds.

“If Don Miggerton asks, this is about the weapon used to mess up the Himuras.”

Blitz was a weapons guy, after all. Hopefully they could put two and two correctly and make their own assumptions from there.

Well it was certainly good that only one person had access to this. The carnage the mark wielders could wreak if they simply wanted to cause chaos was immense. Massacring entire skyscrapers, civic buildings, the entirety of the Thremont lord’s school she had attended, the possibilities were endless and terrifying. The question was, and she should probably thought of the question before she was half way between Cash’s residence and Wirefort, was whether the sources in Cash’s notebook could have been found by others researching the incident as well. Obviously Cash had knowledge of the existence of nightmares was an advantage in his research but someone could potentially find this out now that the symbol and incident existed to provide a starting point.

As with before Advent was falling behind, though now that they were in the darker bits of the city she had the luxury of using one of her seekers to keep track of the others and find her shortcuts. With how bad the traffic was her lower to speed was made up with the ability to take side streets and weave recklessly through through traffic. Apart from one instance where she had to use the seeker to scare off a bunch of muggers in a dark ally the tactic was successful in letting here keep up.

It was through that seeker, currently hugging a shadow on the side of one of the buildings, that she heard the conversation as she caught up with the two vehicle convoy. She had pulled the gas mask over her face before arriving on the scene as a vague attempt to protect her identity, a habit from back when she was doing the run for info at the Necronomicon. Hopping of the bike a little distance away and calmly wheeling the it towards them in an nonthreatening manner. Arriving just as End gave her muttered comment

As someone who had invented the art biological firearms basically from scratch advent felt that what Blitz was selling was better odds of actually hitting the target. Just chucking projectiles out as the overly complex Courtlandt Holdings SMGs did was not the right way to make a weapon for someone who could aim. Then again it was unlikely those goons could aim, but at this range it would hardly matter. She tired her best to ignore the varicose small arms pointed their way.

“Bigger is better if you want to actually hit something though.”

She muttered to End through the mask. Then she leaned against the side of the armored vehicle while the arms dealer and the assassin did their vague negotiate strategy. Personally she would have just told them they were here to do some information brokering, but she did not exactly look like someone worth talking to in her field medic getup. Not that Painstalkers exactly had a look per say, but putting on a street magic performance to prove she was the real deal was more trouble than it was worth.

“You all doing alright in End's metal box?”

She asked End's passengers, trying to take her own and their minds of the danger. All they could do was wait to see how the thugs reacted. Her various minions where stationed around the nearby sewer exits in case taht reaction was to start shooting.

The revelations about this particular Nightmare's nature disturbed Jiangli. He never particularly liked dealing with the more esoteric varieties of Nightmare such as this one. Something like this being weaponized by malicious parties definitely should have attracted Prohibitum attention if they ever caught wind of it, but it seemed that the Cleaners had heard first. Likely for the better, all things considered. Still, if they failed here, Sanctum would have to be notified. Perhaps the threat of this Nightmare being utilizied by Painstakers would get the Prohibitum off of their asses.

Either way, Runner geared up into his armor before they left Cash's residence, clipping his pistol and sword onto his side as he clambered into an available van.

As the group of Cleaners were stopped by a crew of thugs, Runner stayed silent in the back, letting Blitz and End handle the negotiations. As a former Agent, he was out of his depth dealing with the mundane criminal element. Instead, he let one hand fall down to the pistol clipped to his side, letting it rest there for now.

Arsenal simply shrugged. They were probably right to give caution to tests like that. She was totally fine with them as long as she wasn’t anywhere near it, of course. But like a few other of her fellow Cleaners, she saw an immediate need for that phenomenon to be gone, Nightmare or not. With Cash having explained much of what he knew, there was little use in asking further questions, so she had no objections to moving on.

“What kind of shit edgy name is that, End?” Lazily on her mobile device, Rui-Hai disagreed with Josephine as she drove them back across town towards the Wirefort compound. Looking out the bulletproof windows of the armored personnel carrier for the rest of the trip, her interest was only aroused again at the sight of armed men approaching their vehicle as they approached the Wirefort’s manor.

Like everybody who was worth their salt in the business, Rui-Hai was well acquainted with both the Himuras and the Wireforts. She had, however, never dealt directly with the latter organization, so with End and Blitz filing out of the vehicle to greet their welcoming committee, Arsenal felt quite comfortable sitting within the confines of the armored car. But even then, she still wanted to get a piece of the action and listen in on the negotiations, so she jumped off her seat and climbed onto the ledge on the center of the vehicle, wrestling open the port on the top of the roof normally reserved for a machine gun mount. Climbing onto the empty mount, she stuck her head out of the vehicle, crossing her arms.

If there was any conflict to be had, what better place would there be to fire overwhelming firepower from?

It was well past early by the time Chris was awake, and he stared at the neon red colors of his bedside clock for a few moments before he sat up with a groan. Seeing as he was already well past late and into absent, he was in no particular rush as he plodded around his room. A quickly fired off message to some of the other Cleaners that had been around last night would hopefully get him a response by the time he was ready to leave the cafe as to where he was supposed to go. Cracking open the mini-fridge, he fished out a carton of milk and tossed a frozen meal into the microwave that sat on the fridge to cook. In the meantime, he wandered out of the room to pick up whatever was left in the daily basket of baked goods.

Returning to the microwave beeping, he popped what was left of the biscuit down the hatch before gingerly grabbing the steaming carton and taking a seat by his desk. Glancing at his phone, he hummed at the reply he’d received and quickly sent one back saying he’d be there in about 20 minutes? Maybe less depending on traffic. With that said he walked over to the gray locker next to his room’s door and tapped in an access code to the control panel on the side. “Base layers only,” he said as he lifted his arms and let the automated arms go about fitting the pieces in place. It took a few moments before he was able to step away and activate the locker’s hover function so he could bring it upstairs.

It took a few more minutes before he’d finished up with everything and attached the locker to his bike. Slipping his helmet in place, there was a series of hiss and clicks as it locked in with the rest of the suit. Revving to life, he accelerated into the turn out of the cafe’s lot and towards the Wirefort manor. Hopefully the others hadn’t gotten into a firefight or something suitably undiplomatic by the time he arrived.

Warthog listened intently to Cash's explanation. He didn't quite like the concept of being killed by sentient wind, but was glad to know that this nightmare may have a physical manifestation. But the thought crossed his mind - what if someone wrote it on his suit? The mere thought of it made him shudder. With all of the little questions he had answered, Warthog entered the van that he had borrowed from Cash.

Before the doors closed, he looked back. Most of them had entered End's van. There was only Zero left without a ride. The van that he was had enough space for one more, thankfully.

"Hey, Zero," he said, his voice reverberating as if he spoke into a bucket, "want to come along?"

He didn't want Zero to enter End's van. What if something went wrong? End's van was armoured, what if they perceived it as a threat? The van that Warthog was in wasn't armoured. Of course, they wouldn't enter the property or the surrounding area. Warthog was never good at negotiations. Something about an eight foot and half-ton suit of armour never really spelt diplomacy. Warthog would hide nearby, coming out if the situation needed it.

Zer0 got her answers. Camera's were pretty much useless. Great. Continuing to pay attention to the 'briefing' the group soon got dismissed for more information gathering. Wirefort... Zer0 knew of that name. When she was still part of Freudentanz. The groups had been rivals... until D4aem0n.exe gave Freudentanz such an edge in information that the Wirefort's got pretty much eradicated. Honestly, the purple-haired girl was surprised that they actually managed to pull through.

Still, they never actually had seen her face or anything, so Zer0 was certain there was no reason to be afraid. D4aem0n.exe died with Freudentanz after all - every single member butchered by the Nightmare she hasn't even laid eyes upon.

The girls attention was drawn back to reality as she heard someone say her name. It was Warthog. Giving her a ride. While the hacker could have surely used the same transportation again she was actually unsure if such an automobile would even make it to the place they would head now. So his offer was very much welcome. Giving Warthog a warm nod, Zer0 agreed. "Mhm!" If, in the end meant she wouldn't even need to face anybody of the Wirefort's it only increased her chances of survival. Just in case somebody miraculously knew of her identity.

Though the numerous guardsmen looked to Blitz with clear confusion and dislike, a hand and voice raised towards the back, closer to the front gates of the Wirefort manor, had directed their attention away from the soaring Cleaner.

"He's good, guys. He's fine," someone said at the back. A voice perhaps familiar to Blitz if he were prone to jotting down such things. The guardsmen loosened their tension before the caravan, guns lowered to their hips or holstered altogether. The one who spoke up approached closer, shifting past the wall of fellow guards to get a better look at the Cleaners.

"It's more than sufficient," the man said. As he came closer, the glow a cigarette in his lips partially illuminated his face. The majority of light on the street came from a pair of orange streetlamps situated on either side of the gate. Much of the guardsmens' faces were darkened and difficult to discern. "You need the boss? What about these guys?" he asked, gesturing with his chin to the cars behind Blitz, End, and Advent. Another guard spoke up, shifting their shoulders in a half-shrug.

"What? What weapon? Last we tussled with the Himura's it was fists and knives at the Reginald-Don Pub," he said with a laugh. A few others scoffed in turn, recollecting something funny only to them.

"She's talkin' about the massacre the other day. At their manor," another chimed in.

"Ah shit. Right. That one. That wasn't us though. We've been tryin' to figure out who it wa-"

Before the man could finish his sentence, a distinct sound set the whole street into combat mode. The screech of several tires in succession was as clear a warning as any. As if on cue, there was chaotic shouting over one another and the ringing of phone notifications. Something was coming...

And it came in but four seconds.

From both ends of the street came a squad of five cars, all of them armed to the teeth with plating and gunnery. Shots rang out as soon as they made their appearance, bullets flying from every direction. The entrance to the manor was the only safe refuge, save being inside End's car, and so the Wirefort's began running and gunning for their headquarters.

Stopping far from the entrance, the five cars skidded to a halt broadside as dozens of individuals spilled out with guns of all kinds. Handguns, assault rifles, and sub-machine guns rattled out with death upon the streets, focusing fire towards the retreating Wireforts... and the unknown Cleaners that were caught in the middle of it all.

Bigger was better for actually hitting things? End cocked an eyebrow at the flesh-monster that tried to weasel her way into a conversation that no one actually wanted her to be a part of. The Wireforts weren’t those brainless monsters that Advent kept around, after all. They were more or less adults with the intelligence befitting of one. Using firearms wasn’t rocket science, after all.

Even a child could learn to shoot after a week.

She smirked at the bespectacled former Painstaker when one that appeared to have more clout than the others pretty much defended End’s opinion about all this weapon talk, before that same smirk faded just as quickly. So the Wireforts weren’t involved, and were launching their own investigations to figure out who exactly messed up the Himuras, huh? The raven-haired girl made a disgruntled noise, turning. A dead end. A waste of time.

“Rash family next,” she said, right as hell broke out with the arrival of eighty armed men, charging forwards with guns blazing.

End moved fast, pivoting around and then in front of Blitz, using the bulkier man as a temporary shield. Bullets sparked off her armored vehicle as she drew out the Punisher EMT, before one hand grabbed onto the flying merchant’s collar.

“Runner, keys are in ignition! I’m billing you for every dent you put in it!”

This wasn’t a fight they had to get involved in. Hell, they weren’t even going to get paid for this. So Josephine knew exactly what they needed to do.

Leave and move on to the next group.